The Glories of the New Springtime to be Forced on All Forever

"The bigger significance of this event is the Second Vatican Council and its status marking a sort of springtime for the church," said Chad Pecknold, assistant professor of theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, noting that Pope Francis is making saints those most closely associated with it.

Vatican II was a watershed for the Catholic Church, introducing vernacular to replace Latin at masses and calling for greater participation of laity and women in the life of the church. It encouraged ecumenism, or dialogue with other religions and other Christian denominations, and scrapped the concept of Jewish guilt for the crucifixion of Christ, which soured Christian-Jewish relations for centuries.

The Second Vatican Council also advocated more decentralization of power in the church, a concept that Pope Francis has strongly backed. For instance, Last year he ordered a survey of parishes around the world to hear clerics' and parishioners' greatest concerns regarding issues such as birth control and same-sex marriage in preparation for a major meeting of bishops later this year on the family. He has also called for a greater role for women in the church and recently appointed a woman as the head of a pontifical institute.

Pope Francis also made a statement in favor of ecumenism last December, when he declared one of the first Jesuits, Pierre Favre, also called Peter Faber, a saint. The Jesuit is known for his contacts with Protestants during the Reformation, flouting the official church line considering them heretics.

The importance of Vatican II is also evident in the expected beatification later this year of Pope Paul VI, who presided over the Council's closure in 1965 and reigned until 1978.

"The renewal brought by Vatican II opened the way," Pope Francis said Friday in a video message for residents of the small northern Italian town where Pope John XXIII was born. "There is a special joy in the fact that the canonization of John XXIII happens together with that of John Paul II, who advanced that renewal during his long papacy."

The Party Line is Fixed. Only Our Lady can fix this dangerous nonsense.

Benedict will help "preside" (to use the parlance of our times, as Maude Lebowski would say) over the death of all his attempts to salvage the integrity of the post-Vatican 2 paradigm.

The Vatican has confirmed that retired Pope Benedict XVI is invited to the ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica. The prospect of two popes potentially attending a canonization of two popes whom they knew personally has drawn world attention, as well as millions of pilgrims to Rome in recent days.

It's enough to make one hope he's being coerced. But of course, now is the time to let go of illusions.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us! Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Time is a better judge. Sanskrit for Hindus was a sacred Language, understandable only to very few. The few who knew understood the vedas and lived the 'life'. But later it turned out over the centuries, such exclusivity was its own undoing. Half of the Hindus do not know what their scripture says simply 'cos they do not know the language it is written in.

This is my issue with traddies (and I prefer the old Mass). They believe that everything that happened after the Council, is in fact a result of the Council.

WRONG!

Or, at least you can't prove it. Buit it is highly unlikely.

The Council coincided with a cultural revolution including the sexual revolution, women's rights, the legalization of abortion, the pill, and not to mention widespread economic prosperity.

Empty Churches, diminishing numbers, mass exodus of priests and religious from their vocations would have likely happened anyway. These are issues of culture. There is no more respect for obedience any longer.

What I believe CAN BE BLAMED ON THE COUNCIL, is the lack of Catholic identity that has confused the entire Church, including bishops and cardinals. That in itself is devastating enough.

A Day That Will Live in Glory

Pray for the Four Cardinals: Burke, Caffarra, Meiser and Brandmuller

“You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your Faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis. No one, ever, will prevail against your Faith, beloved Brothers. And we believe that God will give us our churches back some day."